Develop Reference

Data Binding in ASP.NET MVC

I know it would be a basic question but I'm a newbie to ASP.Net MVC. I have fetched data from database using LINQ but there is an issue. I wanna bind that data with input fields of a customized webform. (I'm using MVC). I wanna populate the input fields of webform with fetched data. I'm using EF Database first approach.
My Controller and view is attached.
Controller ActionMethod
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
AutoRTGSEntities_1 dc = new AutoRTGSEntities_1();
//dc.policies.Where(cb => cb.Section_Key.Contains("SenderBIC"));
return View(dc.policies.Where(cb => cb.Policy_Section.Contains("RTGS")).ToList()); //get RTGS policy section data
}
}
View
#model IEnumerable<Swift_MT_103.policy>
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Home Page";
}
<div> #Model{ #Html.TextBoxFor(x => x.data_Value)) } </div>
<div> <input type="text" name="ReceiverBIC" id="ReceiverBIC" /> </div>
Rest is HTML and CSS. Snap is attached.

Here's a very basic example of how to this. Let's say you have following class:
public class User
{
public int Id { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "E-mailaddress")]
public string E-mail { get; set; }
}
In the controller you get the user:
public ActionResult Index(int id)
{
var user = Db.Users.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Id == id);
if(user != null)
{
return View(user);
}
//Return to the 'Error' view as no user was found
return View("Error");
}
You also need a View to show everything on screen. Make it a strongly typed view, this way you can pass a Model to it. This class will hold all data you want to pass to the view. Code of the view:
//This line lets the view know which class represents the model
#model User
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.Name)
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Name)
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.Name)
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Name)
Using the Razor syntax instead of plain HTML it is very easy to construct and bind your form elements to the corresponding data. In this case the label will show the value of the Display attribute in the User class and the values of the user will be filled in the textboxes.
More reading:
Getting started with ASP.NET MVC 5
ASP.NET MVC Overview
Update:
In case you have a list of objects, you need to enumerate them in the view:
#model IEnumerable<string>
#foreach (var value in Model)
{
<div>#value</div>
}
And if the model is a class and has a property that is a list:
//Let's say a user has lots of names
public class User
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public List<string> Names { get; set; }
}
//View:
#model User
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Id)
#foreach (var name in Model.Names)
{
<div>#name</div>
}

Try to implement a correct ASP.NET MVC architecture. To get this completed, you'll need to use proper Razor (.cshtml type) Syntax in your Views. Best practice:
Create a dedicated ViewModel class in the Model directory. You might call it CustomerCreditTransferViewModel for example. It should contain all Properties you want to display/edit anywhere on the page.
Once you selected your data from your DBContext in your Action, create an instance of CustomerCreditTransferViewModel and populate all fields from the result.
Update your View to use #model CustomerCreditTransferViewModel instead of Swift_MT_103.policy (believe me, this is going to make your live much easier in future)
Copy-paste your raw HTML Code into the page and start looking for all Fields you want to bind, e.g. Text fields (<input type="text" name="accountno" value="" />) and replace them with the Razor Syntax for Data Binding (#Html.TextBoxFor(x => x.AccountNo)). If done correctly, they should be populated now.
Next step is probably the POST. Follow the base MVC Post technique from the Tutorials. Ensure that the Posted Value is of type CustomerCreditTransferViewModel) again, so you can easily validate values and map back to type of Swift_MT_103.policy.

Bind checkboxes to List in partial view

I have a CreateViewModel.
public class CreateViewModel
{
public AttributesViewModel AttributesInfo { get; set; }
}
The AttributesViewModel is sent to a partial view.
public class AttributesViewModel
{
public AttributesViewModel()
{
ChosenAttributes = new List<int>();
}
public List<Attributes> Attributes { get; set; }
public List<int> ChosenAttributes { get; set; }
}
The List of Attributes is outputted in the partial view. Each one has a checkbox.
foreach (var attribute in Model.Attributes)
{
<input type="checkbox" name="ChosenAttributes" value="#attribute.ID" /> #Attribute.Name
}
When I post CreateViewModel, AttributesInfo.ChosenAttributes is always empty even though I checked some boxes. How do I properly name each checkbox so that it binds to the ChosenAttributes List?
My Solution
I took Stephen Muecke's suggestion to do the two way binding. So, I created a CheckboxInfo class that contained Value, Text, and IsChecked. I created a EditorTemplate for it:
#model Project.CheckboxInfo
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Text)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Value)
#Html.CheckBoxFor(model => model.IsChecked) #Model.Text
One GIANT caveat. To get this to work properly, I had to create an EditorTemplate for the AttributesViewModel class. Without it, when CreateViewModel is posted, it cannot link the checkboxes to AttributesInfo.

Your naming the checkbox name="ChosenAttributes" but CreateViewModel does not contain a property named ChosenAttributes (only one named AttributesInfo). You may be able make this work using
<input type="checkbox" name="AttributesInfo.ChosenAttributes" value="#attribute.ID" /> #Attribute.Name
but the correct approach is to use a proper view model that would contain a boolean property (say) bool IsSelected and use strongly typed helpers to bind to your properties in a for loop or using a custom EditorTemplate so that your controls are correctly names and you get 2-way model binding.

I had a similar scenario, but this was how I did it. The solution is not perfect so please excuse if I have left something out, but you should be able to relate. I tried to simplify your solution as well :)
I changed the Attribute class name to CustomerAttribute, rename it to whatever you like, use a singular name, not plural. Add a property to your CustomerAttribute class, call it whatever you like, I called mine IsChange.
public class CustomerAttribute
{
public bool IsChange { get; set; }
// The rest stays the same as what you have it in your Attributes class
public string Name { get; set; } // I'm assuming you have a name property
}
Delete your AttributesViewModel class, you don't really need it, I like simplicity.
Modify your CreateViewModel class to look like this:
public class CreateViewModel
{
public CreateViewModel()
{
CustomerAttributes = new List<CustomerAttribute>();
}
public List<CustomerAttribute> CustomerAttributes { get; set; }
}
Your controller will look something like this:
public ActionResult Create()
{
CreateViewModel model = new CreateViewModel();
// Populate your customer attributes
return View(model);
}
Your post controller action method would look something like this:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(CreateViewModel model)
{
// Do whatever you need to do
}
In your view, you will have something like this:
<table>
<tbody>
#for (int i = 0; i < Model.CustomerAttributes.Count(); i++)
{
<tr>
<td>#Html.DisplayFor(x => x.CustomerAttributes[i].Name)</td>
<td>#Html.CheckBoxFor(x => x.CustomerAttributes[i].IsChange)</td>
</tr>
}
<tbody>
</table>
Create a sample app and try out the code above and see if it works for you.

How to pass back model to controller using razor dropdownlist

I have a DropDownListFor control that I am wanting to show a display value that resides in a property within a model/class (this is the Rule class.) The view's model is actually a collection of these model/classes. However, when I select the item from the DropDownList, I want to send back the entire model as a parameter. I have this working perfectly with the following code, but the Name property within the parameter is coming back as null. The other properties all have appropriate values.
View Code:
#model List<StockTrader.Web.Data.Rule>
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Configure Rules";
}
<h2>#ViewBag.Title</h2>
<h4>Choose a rule to edit:</h4>
<form method="post" id="rulesform" action="SaveRules">
#Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.First().RuleID, new SelectList(Model.AsEnumerable(), "RuleID", "Name"))
<div style="margin-bottom: 15px;">
<label>Value:</label><br />
<input type="number" name="Value" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" /><br />
<button>Save Value</button>
</div>
Controller Code:
public ActionResult SaveRules(Rule model)
{
//do something
}
Rule Class:
public class Rule
{
public int RuleID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Value { get; set; }
public bool IsDeleted { get; set; }
}
We do have Kendo controls, so if another control would be more appropriate, that is an option.
I would be glad to provide anymore code or information you might need.
Any thoughts or ideas?
EDIT:
So it turns out this is what I needed to do, the accepted answer got me to this point so I'm going to leave it checked.
View Code (w/script included):
#Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.First().RuleID, new SelectList(Model.AsEnumerable(), "RuleID", "Name"), new { id = "ruleid", #onchange = "CallChangefunc(this)" })
#Html.HiddenFor(m => m.First().Name, new { id = "rulename" })
function CallChangefunc(e) {
var name = e.options[e.selectedIndex].text;
$("#rulename").val(name);
}

You will need a hidden field for it,and use dropdownlist on change event on client side to update hidden field:
#Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.First().RuleID, new SelectList(Model.AsEnumerable(), "RuleID", "Name"),new { id= "ruleid" })
#Html.HiddenFor(m=>m.First().Name,new { id="rulename" })
and jquery code:
$("#ruleid").change(function(){
$("#rulename").val($(this).text());
});
Second option isif Rule collection is coming from database you can fetch RuleName by using id to by querying db in action.

it can be achieved by using UIHint
On your model class, on the RuleID property, add an annotation for UIHint. It basically lets you render a partial (cshtml) for the property. So, on the partial, you can have the template for generating the dropdwon with required styling. When Page is generated. Now you can use the same Html.DropDownListFor for RuleID and UI generates a dropdown for it.
This will avoid having additional jQuery code to get the dropdown value, and code is more concise and testable.

MVC Razor Html.Partial sub model

I have a problem concerning Partial views in MVC Razor. Any help is highly appreciated, it's most likely something I've missed, but I could find nothing while searching that had the same problem replicated.
So I'm binding my view to a view model.
public class Person
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public virtual ContactInformation ContactInformation { get; set; }
}
And then I have a view with a partial to render the contact information model.
<div>
#Model.Name
</div>
<div>
#Html.Partial("_ContactInformation", Model.ContactInformation)
</div>
However, the "_ContactInformation" view is rendered without ContactInformation in the nameattribute of the <input>s
Usually razor binds the name attribute to something like: name="ContactInformation.Address". But since it's a partial it gets rendered as name="Address".
Am I missing something or is this the intended way for it to work?

You have two options. Option 1 - specify the prefix explicitly:
#Html.Partial("_ContactInformation", Model.ContactInformation, new ViewDataDictionary
{
TemplateInfo = new System.Web.Mvc.TemplateInfo { HtmlFieldPrefix = "ContactInformation" }
})
Options 2 is to turn partial view into an editor template for your model and than use EditorFor helper method, that should be able to add prefixes for you:
#Html.EditorFor(m => m.ContactInformation)

Why DefaultModelBinder in MVC3 does not Bind?

I do not understand why the DefaultModelBinder in MVC3 does not map the Form Post Data to my action method. I have the following ViewModels:
public class DisplayExcelTableViewModel
{
public string UploadedFileName { get; set; }
public List<string> TableHeaders { get; set; }
public List<TableRowViewModel> TableRows { get; set; }
}
public class TableRowViewModel
{
public List<string> TableColumns { get; set; }
}
They are displayed in a (partial) View using DisplayTemplates:
#using (Html.BeginForm("SubmitExcel", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
{
<fieldset>
<table>
<tr>
<th>#Html.DisplayFor(m => m.TableHeaders)</th>//<input id="TableHeaders_0_" name="TableHeaders[0]" type="text" value="Opportunity Id" />
</tr>
<tr>
<td>#Html.DisplayFor(m => m.TableRows)</td>//<input id="TableRows_0__TableColumns_0_" name="TableRows[0].TableColumns[0]" type="text" value="1-H7PKD9" />
</tr>
</table>
<input type="submit" value="Send" />
</fieldset>
}
And the action method looks like this:
public ActionResult SubmitExcel(DisplayExcelTableViewModel excelTable)
To try whether it worked just with one TableRows I tried:
public ActionResult SubmitExcel([Bind(Prefix = "TableRows")] TableRowViewModel TableRows)
to test I also tried to put List<TableRows> and take out the Bind attribute. It does not work.
I got a runtime exception:
"System.MissingMethodException: No parameterless constructor defined for this object."
May you tell me what I am doing wrong?
Thanks Francesco

The problem is that my ViewModels DID NOT have a parameterless constructor, which is what the Default Model Binder looks for(uses .NET’s Activator.CreateInstance() method, which relies on those types having public parameterless constructors).The solutions in this case are two:
1) Add a parameterless constructor to the ViewModel and the other custom classes wrapped inside it.
2) Create a custom model binder that covers also the case of your ViewModel
Thanks
Source: Pro ASP.NET MVC2 Framework (2nd Edition)

Have you checked (for example with Firebug) whether are form values being posted to the server? I'm asking because Html.DisplayFor usually renders display elements, whereas for posting values you usually have to use Html.EditorFor.